PAT FENLON admits he learned NOTHING from watching his Hibs side take a Cup Final doing from Hearts.

Apart from the need to keep his hands in his pockets in the future, that is.

The Easter Road boss already knew he had to make big changes at Easter Road BEFORE the Edinburgh rivals met at Hampden back in May.

So the Jambos’ stunning 5-1 win merely went on to confirm what he had already suspected.

But Fenlon admits that didn’t make the nature of the humiliating defeat any easier to deal with.

The Irishman’s frustration on the day got the better of him towards the end when he gestured towards the Hearts fans.

And he admits the pain lasted a lot longer than that as he tried to come to terms with the crushing loss.

But at the same time Fenlon refused to feel sorry for himself because he knew there was work to be done.

That night he returned to Easter Road and laid out his plans to the Hibs board.

They included shipping out more than half of the squad that had failed to deliver all season.

And in their place he sought out players who he knew could help turn the club around.

Six months on Hibs go into Sunday’s fourth round tie with Hearts as FAVOURITES.

And Fenlon insists what happened back in May now has no relevance to what will take place this weekend.

He said: “I haven’t watched the Cup Final again — and I don’t plan to. I can’t learn anything from it, I have a completely different group.

“The only thing I can learn from it is maybe to keep my hands in my pockets! But can’t learn anything from the football stuff, nothing at all. It was such a difficult time personally. I was hurting after the Final.

“After that game I locked myself away and didn’t want to see anyone for a few days.

“I know people judged me after that and I had to get on with that. People had their say and I listened to some of the comments. That was just motivational for myself.

“I don’t let a lot out, I tend to hold it in so I probably dealt with it inside.

“It’s not nice — but you have to deal with it.

“As a manager you’re going to have ups and downs and it’s how you deal with them that defines you.

“And I think we dealt with it in the right way in relation to what we’ve done with the club.

“It was a definitive moment in terms of where the club was, that’s certainly true.

“We got back after the game and I spoke to people running the club.

“That was the time to say: ‘That has to change — because today has proven how far backwards we’ve gone’.

“It was important to deal with it and resurrect the club and bring it back to where it should be. And I think we’re on track to do that.

“Dealing with it wasn’t just about the days after that game but over the entire summer and the changes that we had to make. And I think we’re in a good place now. I think we’ve done okay since. What happened then isn’t really relevant to Sunday, as it’s a completely different team and the players have proven that.

“The focus should be on them, those players who have turned fortunes in the right direction.”

The Hibees have failed to win any of their last TWELVE games against their capital rivals. It’s a run that stretches back to May 2009 when Derek Riordan scored the winner for Mixu Paatelainen’s side.

Since then, John Hughes and Colin Calderwood have both tried and failed to stop the rot.

But Fenlon knows this is a different Hearts side to the ones that have gone before.

Vladimir Romanov’s millions have dried up and many of the Jambos’ big names are no longer there. It’s now Hibs who are challenging Celtic at the top of the SPL.

And Fenlon admits a win on Sunday would go a long way to winning back fans who walked out on the club after their Hampden humbling.

He said: “There was a period of time where Hearts were in ascendency and I think there’s an obvious reason for that — but I won’t go into that.

“We’ve got to make sure we stop it when we can and Sunday is about getting a result for supporters.

“The way the support have come back with us since May is tremendous.

“And I’m not sure any other club would have been able to attract as many people as we have on the back of two poor years and a bad day in the Cup Final.

“We’re slowly winning them back and getting a result on Sunday would be a real bonus.

“I don’t need to convince my players of that.

“This is NOT about revenge for the Cup Final. There are very few of the players left from May.

“It’s about winning a game of football, we can’t do anything about the past.”